


Misunderstood

by NovaNara



Series: Sherlock challenges - Tumblr [17]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Animal AU, Depression, Dolphins, Drug Use, Friendship only, Gen, Pufferfish, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-29
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2019-01-06 22:17:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12220062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NovaNara/pseuds/NovaNara
Summary: Forget Tunalock, Sherlock is a dolphin. A surprisingly angsty one. Warnings for drug use, suicidal ideation and depression. Sorry, but the 'animals' prompt from the Sherlock challenge on Tumblr turned into this... M for the warnings, not for any good times (that will NOT be in this story).





	Misunderstood

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chrwythyn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chrwythyn/gifts), [for being an awesome beta and persuading me to add a happy end](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=for+being+an+awesome+beta+and+persuading+me+to+add+a+happy+end).



> Disclaimer: nothing mine, obviously. A.N. Warning for **drug use, depression, suicidal ideation** , and generally angst to the max. This is based on a few articles I’ve found scouring for inspiration…so, not as crack as you would think.

 

“Fuck it, Sherlock, leave me alone. This gets boring fast, you know,” Wiggins said, swimming a bit farther along.

“Just one more,” the dolphin replied, chasing him and taking him very carefully into his mouth.

Wiggins tried to will himself to stop. He’d known Sherlock long enough to be certain that he wasn’t actually in any danger of being eaten. But it was reflex – a life saving one, which he really didn’t want to suppress entirely. That’d be bad news for him. So, the pufferfish released a small amount of toxin. The other immediately let him go.

“Oooh, yes…so deliciously numb now…” the dolphin said, sounding entirely too pleased with himself for someone who was currently floating in a literal daze.

“What I want to know is – there are plenty of other pufferfish in the sea. Why the fuck do you always come after me when you’re in the mood?” Wiggins complained.

“You are the best. I experimented, you know. You are the one that gets me like this for the longest time,” Sherlock explained, swimming slowly around him.

“It still feels like you’re here all the time. Seriously, do you have any time when you’re not trying to get numb? You know, actually eating, or something? I’m concerned, and believe me, it’s odd that I am,” Wiggins quipped. 

“Eating is overrated anyway,” the dolphin replied despondently, “breathing is overrated, too…basically, living is overrated. When you’re a freak like me, at least. Oh, I do eat sometimes, it is impossible to do anything else if you don’t, but I don’t spend nearly as much worrying about it as many others seem to do. And yes, I’m mostly talking of Mycroft. How he even manages to swim still is completely beyond me.” 

The pufferfish mildly considered just swimming away, but even if he could put in a decent burst of speed, he wasn’t made for the long distance. Sherlock would catch up, and then complain about him trying to leave, too, and probably need another dose to deal with that earlier than he otherwise would have. Better to stay put – well, as put as the waves would have him – and let him vent his troubles away, even if he’d heard it all way too many times for his taste. Maybe he should start asking the dolphin to bring him food, in exchange for taking up all his time. “Well, food tastes good,” he pointed out, “And seriously, you’re too dramatic. Just because a few idiots didn’t appreciate your company, you’re going to die? Not to be too cliché, but the ocean is full of fish. Full of dolphins too, I bet. Way too many for my taste, anyway. Someone else will come along. Or you’ll find them yourself if you stop hanging around here all the time. Because the only thing you’re accomplishing is bugging me, honestly. And possibly ensuring I’m the one who ends up dead, and I could do without it, if it’s all the same to you, of course.”    

“Oh, don’t be stupid! It’s not like I’d ever actually eat you!” Sherlock protested, swimming further away in case it would make the other feel safer.

“Yes, but you’re depleting my resources to defend myself. What happens when someone else swims along and I have no poison left to defend myself anymore, uh? You’ll be stuck with the others of my species, so it might be all fine for you, though I’d like to think you’d miss me every now and then. But I’ll be eaten, and that’d be quite an inconvenience. I’ve not even found my love still. I clearly need to work on my design skills. Say, you’re supposed to be smart, aren’t you?” Wiggins said, drawing a few lines in the sandy sea bottom, almost absentmindedly.

“I _am_ smart, which is why you can be sure I calculated average toxin replacement time. I’m not about to lose you, too. Or well, I’ll lose you of course, as soon as you realise what everyone else seemingly has, but not the way you fear,” the dolphin assured, feeling rather insulted.

“Say, would you help me out, then? I’ll just draw a tiny version of my circle and you might help me pretty it up a bit…you know, a good-looking circle for a good-looking lady pufferfish? It’ll take me a couple days, sure, but you’re sticking around anyway…” and if Wiggins could have sighed, he would have.

“It’s not that I wouldn’t. But I never figured out what the business with females is. Never been interested in mating with one in my life. They are a mystery to me – both what they like and why anyone would bother catering to them. I had a few like-minded partners, but eventually, they too drove me out. Can’t blame them. I didn’t really fit in there,” Sherlock confessed “But if you want my advice still, I suppose I can look into symmetry of patterns and things like that.”   

“A little help is better than no help at all. But it figures that you would know my toxin production rates better than myself and have no idea about getting a partner. Why did I bother asking you, you can’t even make friends without trapping them first,” the pufferfish complained. If he’d been in a better mood, he would have realised it was way too harsh. But he was annoyed with the other from the start, plus the dolphin was numb anyway, and in all likelihood he didn’t even understand him entirely. 

“I resent that,” Sherlock groused, glaring at him. “I have a friend. Well, had. And I’m going to find him again, you just see.” 

“I’ll bite; who?” Wiggins asked, wondering exactly how scrambled the other’s brain was.

“The sound they used to call him was…oh damn, I can’t reproduce it exactly. Something like Een, but it was actually darker, and there was a sound at the start – I can never figure that out). He was a no-fins, you see. One of these who stay in the sea for just a little while. I’d come round here because I didn’t care about anything anymore, and if the waves were too shallow, well, who cared. That’s when they took me out – brought me somewhere that wasn’t connected with the sea at all. And I met him. He was…kind. He talked in gentle tones, sometimes he’d pat my back…We conversed. Well, I’m not really sure we understood each other entirely, but he liked to sit close and tell me things, for hours and I’d talk back. Sometimes I’d ask him why he didn’t say all that to the other no-fins, he was still kind but talking a lot less with them. I wonder if he was lonely, too,” Sherlock explained. “But we really had a connection.”

This time, the pufferfish managed to stifle the urge to remark that the only friend the dolphin made was one that couldn’t understand him. Then again, he’d said they didn’t understand each other _entirely_. If anyone could manage to figure out the no-fins, even partially, it would be Sherlock. “Well, why’d you leave then?” he asked instead.

“I didn’t. They made me, very much without my consent. I believe Een told me I’d be happier, and he wouldn’t listen to my denials. But if they think I’m going to back down, they’re idiots. I’ll just stick around here as long as I need. Hopefully he’ll come to the coast someday. Or they’ll be annoyed into bringing me back. I don’t mind which one. I’m not above bothering every no-fin even just dipping the tiniest bit into the water,” the dolphin declared.

“Oh, I believe you,” Wiggins assured. If the resolution would have been to leave someone alone, he wouldn’t have trusted Sherlock one bit. But bothering someone to reciprocal exhaustion? He was more than stubborn enough for that. “Well, if it’s all the same to you, I see an oyster bed ahead that will make an excellent lunch…”

The dolphin knew when he was dismissed. He swam away, grumbling still, “Why is everyone obsessed with food?” 

 

**Author's Note:**

> P.S. In case you’re curious, my resources are:  
> http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/dolphins-deliberately-get-high-on-puffer-fish-nerve-toxins-by-carefully-chewing-and-passing-them-9030126.html   
> https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/07/lonely-dolphin-making-human-friends-but-experts-ask-swimmers-to-stay-away  
> http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/pufferfish-create-underwater-crop-circles-when-they-mate-620736/   
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/29/dolphins-bisexuality-homosexuality-study-_n_1388330.html


End file.
